Every movie you watch is a vision of its director, who makes an entire movie out of a small observation. Tollywood is known best for its renowned directors, who launched the new sense to the medium. Check out the top Telugu directors:
1. Trivikram Srinivas
TrivikramSrinivas, an Indian film director, and screenwriter
TrivikramSrinivas is an Indian director, screenwriter, and dialogue writer. He is well-known for his work solely in Telugu cinema.
He was born on November 7, 1971, in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. The birth name of TrivikramSrinivas was Akella Naga SrinivasaSarma.
You will find a high dose of laughable situations, comedy, escapist themes, fast-paced banter, and comedy thriller plot lines involving marriage, action, courtship, family, and emotion in his craft. In 2000, TrivikramSrinivas wrote dialogues for the movie NuvveKavali that won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu.
TrivikramSrinivas is well-known by his other two names: Guruji and MaatalaMaantrikudu. His debut directorial movie, NuvveNuvve, won the Nandi Award for the Best Feature film in 2002.
The succeeding writings and directorial works of TrivikramSrinivas include box office hits like:
- NuvvuNaakuNachav
- Jai Chiranjeeva
- Khaleja
- S/O Satyamurthy
- AlaVaikunthapurramuloo
- Swayamvaram
- Manmadhudu
- Athadu
- Julai
- A Aa
- Samudram
- Malliswari
- Jalsa
- AravindaSamethaVeeraRaghava
- ChiruNavvutho
- Athadu
TrivikramSrinivas has won two Filmfare Awards for Best Director (Telugu awards for directing movies AttarintikiDaredi and Athadu) and seven State Nandi Awards. For his contribution to Indian Cinema, TrivikramSrinivas received the B.N. Reddy National Award in 2015.
2. Boyapati Srinu
BoyapatiSrinivas (also spelled as BoyapatiSrinu) is well-known for directing super hit action movies in Telugu cinema. For his outstanding work, Srinu has garnered many state and national awards. The debut directorial movie of BoyapatiSrinu was Bhadra (2005), which starred Meera Jasmine, Prakash Raj, and Ravi Tega.
His second film was Tulasi. The third release of BoyapatiSrinu was Simha (2010), starring SnehaUllal, NandamuriBalakrishna (in a dual role), and Nayantara. He made his fourth film in 2012. The name of the film was Dhammu, starring Trisha, Jr NTR, and Karthika Nair.
Filmography works of Srinu include Simha, Sarrainodu, NBK 106, Bhadra, Dammu, Jaya JanakiNayaka, Tulasi, Legend, and VinayaVidheya Rama.
BoyapatiSrinu won National Award for Best Director for the movie Legend, and in 2016, he received a B.N. Reddy National Award. BoyapatiSrinu achieved TSR-TV9 Award for Best Director two times; first in 2010 for the film Simha, and in 2014, for Legend.
3. S. Rajamouli
KoduriSrisaila Sri Rajamouli is an Indian screenwriter, stunt choreographer, and film director, known for his work primarily in the Telugu cinema. He is well known for directing high fantasy action movies like Eega, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, Magadheera, Baahubali: The Beginning.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion won the Australian Telstra People’s Choice Award and the American Saturn Award for Best International Film. Moreover, another film of Rajamouli, Baahubali: The Beginning, got nominated for Best Fantasy Film in the American Saturn Award.
The other works of S.S. Rajamouli include:
- Chhatrapati, MaryadaRamanna, and Vikramarkudu: he got successful reviews and remade in several Indian languages.
- Action films, Vikramarkudu and Sye, got featured in the mainstream section at the 37th International Film Festival of India.
S.S. Rajamouli won several awards for his work, including five State Nandi Awards, the Star World India award, three National Film Awards, the IIFA Award, Entertainer of The Year Award (2012), four Filmfare Awards South, two SIIMA Awards, and CNN-News18 Indian of The Year in Entertainment (2015).
Rajamouli has also been honored with the fourth highest civilian honor of India, Padma Shri, in 2016. And for the visionary of Indian cinema, he got “behind-woods” in 2018.
4. Koratala Siva
Well known for his work in Telugu cinema, Koratala Siva is an Indian screenwriter and director. The debut directorial movie of Koratala Siva was Mirchi (2013), starring Prabhas. He directed Srimanthudu in 2015, which received six SIIMA Awards, three Filmfare Awards, and six IIFA awards.
Koratala Siva directed another movie, Janatha Garage, which was a super hit and grossed an estimated 135 crores. The film earned a share amount of the distributor of 60 crores in the first week. At the start of his career, Koratala Siva worked as a software engineer. Under his uncle Posani Krishna Murali, Siva worked as a screenwriting assistant as well.
As a director and writer, the work of Koratala Siva includes:
- Janatha Garage, starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Mohanlal, NithyaMenen, and Jr, NTR
- Acharya (starred with Ram Charan, Chiranjeevi, and KajalAggarwal)
- Mirchi, starring RichaGangopadhyay, Prabhas, and AnushkaShetty
- Bharat AneNenu
- Srimanthudu
As a writer only, Koratala Siva works include:
- Munna
- Simha
- Girl Friend
- Okkadunnadu
- Oosaravelli
- Bhadra
- Brindavanam
5. Sukumar
SukumarBandreddi, known mononymic as Sukumar, was born on January 11, 1970. He is an Indian film screenwriter, producer, and director. Sukumar primarily works in Telugu cinema, and he was born in Mattaparru, Andhra Pradesh. Before pursuing his career in the film industry, Sukumar was a physics and mathematics lecturer at Aditya Junior College for six years.
He began his career in film as a writer and assisted V.V. Vinayak and Mohan. In 2004, Sukumardebuted his directorial career with Arya. It was a big success that took him to stardom. For his superb work in Arya, Sukumar won Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer and Filmfare Award for Best Director: Telugu.
The multi-layered and intricate screenplays of Sukumar earned him the honor of an intelligent writer. Moreover, Sukumar was the one who infused grey shades in the character sketches. As a producer, Sukumar made his debut with a film Kumari 21F, under the banner Sukumar writings. His work as a director and screenwriter includes:
- Arya
- 100% Love
- NannakuPrematho
- Pushpa
- Jagadam
- 1: Nenokkadine
- Rangasthalam
- Arya 2
- I Am That Change
Other awards that Sukumar won include KV Reddy memorial award (for his contribution to Telugu cinema), South Indian International Movie Awards, and CineMAA Awards.
6. Sekhar Kammula
SekharKammula, born on February 4, 1972, is an eminent Indian film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He has made his name in Telugu cinema as well. Kammula got his degree of Master of Fine Arts from Howard University.
In 2000, Kammula made his directorial debut with the movie Dollar Dreams. It was a critical success, and Kammula won National Film Award for Best First Film of a director for this movie. Dollar Dreams was also screened at the International Film Festival of India.
At Cannes Film Festival 2011, Kammula was among the delegation of directors to represent Indian Cinema. Anand, his second film, was a blockbuster. The next movie of Kammula, Godavari, was another hit and praised by the critics. Happy Days, released on September 28, 2007, turned out to be a smash hit and got remade in Kannada and Tamil as well.
The Tamil version got released in 2010, and Kammula was its writer as well. After that, he directed another movie, Leader, which received positive reviews. As a director, the work of Kammula includes:
- Godavari
- Life Is Beautiful
- Love Story
- Dollar dreams
- Happy Days
- Anaamika
- Anand
- Leader
- Fidaa
Kammula won several awards, including 47th National Film Awards, CineMAA Awards, Nandi Awards 2006 and 2009, Zee Telugu Golden Awards 2017, and 55thFilmfare Awards South.